How good is Timothy Bradley? Some view him as a perennial rising force in the sport; others view him as more bark than bite. Like many others who have entered the squared circle, the reality is probably found somewhere in the middle-grounds, yet in an era of the sport which breeds fanatics that live for the extreme, such middle-grounds remain a stretch. When we look at the upside of Timothy Bradley, we see a bright young star, great smile, chiseled physique, and the hunger of a lion. So often we’ve seen fighters take their talents abroad and come up short, but in one of his career defining moments, the California native crossed the pond to face the U.K.’s Junior Witter, and by the end of the night, effectively crossed over into the the B-Side echelon of the sport, a home of other formidable contenders who were better than the rest, but not quite tested by the best. From that point on, we’ve seen Bradley elevate his game with each performance, correcting mistakes of the past, while adding new tricks for the present to help secure what appeared to be a glowing future.
Kendall Holt and Nate Campbell both fell victim to the “Desert Storm”. Few view him as a fundamentally sound boxer, but the irony in the story of Timothy Bradley is that of all the fighters he faced in his rise, it was the fundamental boxer of the group (Lamont Peterson) who actually fared the worst against him, raising questions about the old adage which states that “a good boxer always beats a good brawler” (or in this case a good slugger). Bradley did a very adequate job against the skilled Peterson, and followed that victory with a less-than-scintillating, yet credible victory over Devon Alexander. Each of these steps carried Bradley to a higher place in the sport. Such a momentum is hard to slow, but a look at the downside of Bradley could very well be enough to bring the B-train to a screeching halt well short of the charted destination.
For Bradley, times have changed. New promoter, new contract, new man, new mission. Bradley will make his debut as a Top Rank fighter on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao in only a few weeks, and he’ll do it against a man he should defeat, which is strong in one light, yet very weak in the dark, as it may undoubtedly serve as a false sense of security in what he may learn to be a very insecure world. Looming in the backdrop for Bradley is a shot at Filipino Manny Pacquiao. After what will be a 10-month hiatus, Bradley may have enough to defeat Casamayor, but little in his arsenal prepares him for such a showdown as the one previously mentioned. Out of 28 professional fights, all but 11 men stood to see the final bell. A 39% KO ratio leaves much to be desired, and a rise in weight means the limited depth of that power could shrink even more. Aside from the questionable power, some have viewed the repetitious headbutts and foul-play by Bradley as signs of mental weakness. It’s hard to pin truth to this sentiment, but what we do know is that it has only surfaced when victory wasn’t quite certain.
Seems hard to believe such a good-natured guy could be capable of such wrong-doing, but deception has always been a part of the Bradley persona, albeit not necessarily in an intentional way. The biggest example of this comes in the fact that many view the jump to welterweight as a ground-breaking move for him, when history tells us this has always been Bradley’s division of choice. On a live broadcast, HBO commentators spoke of him being in uncharted waters at welterweight against Luis Abregu, apparently deciding to lose the fact that Bradley actually started his career within the welterweight limit and has fought several times above the jr. welterweight limit of 140lbs throughout his career. Limited pop and a few big-yet-conquerable names kept him below the welterweight radar, but now that the vision has grown, so has the desire to move up where the real money dwells.
With greater elevation comes greater risk. At the end of the day, the story of Timothy Bradley remains a work in progress, but when you analyze the good and the bad, it reminds us that there’s a chance it may not end the way it began. California based R&B group Tony, Toni, Tone once told us that “it never rains in Southern California”. In fitting fashion, considering all weaknesses that exist, one can’t help but wonder whether or not a sudden reign (of another young talented stud) could in fact be enough to end this sweltering heat affectionately known as “Desert Storm”. Stay tuned.
(Vivek “Vito” Wallace can be reached at [email protected], Youtube (Vivek1251), Twitter (VivekWallace747), Skype (Vito-Boxing), and Facebook).
